A fresh look into the monumental work of Paul Valery, one of the major French literary figures of the twentieth century. Heir to Mallarme and the symbolists, godfather to the modernists, Paul Valery was a poet with thousands of readers and few followers, great resonance and little echo. Along with Rilke and Eliot, he stands as a bridge between the tradition of the nineteenth century and the novelty of the twentieth. His reputation as a poet rests on three slim volumes published in a span of only ten years. Yet these poems, it turns out, are inseparable from another, much vaster intellectual and artistic enterprise: the Notebooks. Behind the published works, behind the uneventful life of the almost forgotten and then exceedingly famous poet, there hides another story, a private life of the mind, that has its record in 28,000 pages of notes revealed in their entirety only after his death. Their existence had been hinted at, evoked in rumors and literary asides; but once made public it took years for their significance to be fully appreciated. It turned out that the prose fragments published in Valery's lifetime were not the after-the-fact musings of an accomplished poet, nor his occasional sketchbook, nor excerpts from his private journal. They were a disfigured glimpse of a vast and fragmentary "exercise of thought," a restless intellectual quest as unguided and yet as persistent, as rigorous, and as uncontainable as the sea that is so often their subject. The Idea of Perfection shows both sides of Valery: the craftsman of sublimely refined verse, and the fervent investigator of the limits of human intellect and expression. It intersperses his three essential poetic works--Album of Early Verse, The Young Fate, and Charms--with incisive selections from the Notebooks and finishes with the prose poem "The Angel." Masterfully translated by Nathaniel Rudavsky-Brody, with careful attention to form and a natural yet metrical contemporary poetic voice, The Idea of Perfection breathes new life into poems that are among the most beautiful in the French language and the most influential of the twentieth century.

This is an informal collection of essays and speeches on the writers who in one way or another counted for Valery in the shaping of his mind or in his affections and interests: Descartes, Voltaire, Stendhal, Goethe, Villon, Nietzsche, Pascal, Proust, Huysmans, Pierre Louys, Nerval, Rilke, Bergson, and others. The volume presents, in an appendix, the first publication in English of any extensive selection from Valery's personal notebooks--the Cahiers. Originally published in 1968. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

This is an informal collection of essays and speeches on the writers who in one way or another counted for Valery in the shaping of his mind or in his affections and interests: Descartes, Voltaire, Stendhal, Goethe, Villon, Nietzsche, Pascal, Proust, Huysmans, Pierre Louys, Nerval, Rilke, Bergson, and others. The volume presents, in an appendix, the first publication in English of any extensive selection from Valery's personal notebooks--the Cahiers. Originally published in 1968. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

A selection of writings that portray the inner life of the artist. Included are several short autobiographical pieces in which Valery talks about his early childhood, his adolescence, his military experience, his travels, his poetry, and his acquaintances. The volume contains selections from the Valery-Gide and Valery-Fourment correspondence and two additional pieces, "The Avenues of the Mind," a magazine interview with Valery printed in 1927, and Pierre Feline's "Memories of Paul Valery." Originally published in 1975. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Paul Valery felt a deep interest in politics and developed an active involvement in international affairs. A spokesperson for the League of Nations, he was the French representative to the Committee on Intellectual Co-operation and the Permanent Committee on Arts and Letters, both organs of the League. This volume includes twelve essays illustrating his political concerns.

Valery's dialogues are considered his most important works of imagination in prose. The volume brings together for the first time all the formal dialogues, including Eupalinos and six other pieces."

Paul Valery (1871-1945) was a poet and essayist, and along with Verlaine and Mallarme is regarded as one of the most important Symbolist writers, and an influence on poets from Eliot to Ashbery. He had a quiet life by many standards, but in one respect it was exemplary, even legendary; he made an early reputation in little magazines, decided to stop writing verse when still only 20, kept his silence for 20 years, then began again; and his first book of verse, published when he was 45, was his masterpiece La Jeune Parque.'A poem should not mean, but be,' said Archibald MacLeish. La Jeune Parque ('the goddess of Fate as a young woman') certainly exists: she's beautiful and makes great gestures. And as for what she means, there's a substantial amount of argument about that, so La Jeune Parque is a poem by either definition. It's a classic, by general agreement, written to the full 17th-century recipe for alexandrine couplets, and it's modern, with every word pulling its weight in more than one direction. Alistair Elliot's translation with notes is aimed at making this rewarding but difficult long poem accessible enough for bafflement to turn into admiration. He attempts to clarify its small puzzles and also trace the overall narrative line of Paul Valery's poem: it does have a story (what should a young woman do?) and does struggle towards a resolution. He also provides an introduction which deals with the interesting circumstances of the poem's four-year composition (1913-17), which resulted in Valery's instantly becoming a famous poet at the age of 45, after having written no poetry for 20 years.

A selection of writings that portray the inner life of the artist. Included are several short autobiographical pieces in which Valery talks about his early childhood, his adolescence, his military experience, his travels, his poetry, and his acquaintances. The volume contains selections from the Valery-Gide and Valery-Fourment correspondence and two additional pieces, "The Avenues of the Mind," a magazine interview with Valery printed in 1927, and Pierre Feline's "Memories of Paul Valery." Originally published in 1975. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

All of the major meditations on the theory and practice of poetry by one of the greatest poets of our time--and perhaps the one who has most scrupulously analyzed his art--are included in The Art of Poetry.

Originally published in 1985.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

It begins with the poetry (French and English en face), including such masterpieces as "Le Cimetiere Marin" and portions of "La Jeune Parque"; then ranges through Valery's work in fields as various as architecture, logic, the dance, literature, philosophy, and painting. It concludes with excerpts from his creative writings such as Monsieur Teste and the drama Mon Faust. The list of translators for this volume is distinguished. Among them are Lionel Abel, Leonie Adams, Malcolm Cowly, James Kirkup, C. Day Lewis, Jackson Mathews, Louise Varese, and Vernon Watkins."

Although not autobiographical in any usual sense, Valery's novel is profoundly personal. Monsieur Teste reflects Valery's preoccupation with the phenomenon of a mind detached from sensibility, yet he is also an ordinary fictional character. This volume includes "Snapshots of Monsieur Teste," excerpts from Valery's Cahiers."

All of Valery's major meditations on the theory and practice of poetry are included in this volume. T.S. Eliot writes in his introduction that Valery "invented, and was to impose on his age . . . a new conception of the poet." In Valery's own words, the poet is characterized as a "cool scientist, almost an algebraist, in the service of a subtle dreamer." Valery focuses his attention on the deliberate formal work that transforms the dream into the poem, in his own poems, as well as in analyses of La Fontaine, Victor Hugo, Baudelaire, the Symbolists, Mallarme, Rimbaud, and others."

All of the major meditations on the theory and practice of poetry by one of the greatest poets of our time--and perhaps the one who has most scrupulously analyzed his art--are included in The Art of Poetry. Originally published in 1985. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Includes some of Valery's finest strokes of imagination, Broken Stories; some of his wittiest observations, Mixtures, Poems in the Rough; and even two of his great poems, Parables and The Angel--all written in the form of prose. Originally published in 1970. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Valery's essays on Leonardo, Poe, Mallarme, and with these the "Teste Cycle," were that part of his work most central to his thought. The extensive selection included from his Notebooks is evidence of his enduring interest in these figures. The essays are, in fact, the only work with marginal glosses, Valery's notations showing how he went back, amending and amplifying his original ideas. Originally published in 1972. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Poems ranging from "La Jeune Parque" and "Le Cimetiere marin" to occasional and light verse written as letters to friends, dedications in books, and inscriptions on ladies' fans demonstrate the wide scope of Valery's lyric preoccupation. The bilingual edition, with David Paul's English translations facing the French texts, includes the autobiographical "Recollection," quoted below, and excerpts on poetry, selected and translated from Valery's notebooks by James Lawler. Paul Valery turned to the discipline of poetry during the First World War, to escape from the "commotion of a world gone mad." "I fashioned myself a poetry," he wrote, "that had no other law than to establish for me a way of living with myself, for a part of my days." Originally published in 1971. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

This collection of Valery's occasional pieces--speeches, interviews, articles--shows him very much as the public figure, the first in demand when an "occasion" needed a prominent person. Included are his speech before the French Academy on his reception into that body; his address welcoming Marshal Petain to membership in the French Academy; a witty and appealing commencement address to the young ladies of a private school; memorial addresses honoring Emile Verhaeren and Henri Bremond; an article on the "Future of Literature," and an incisive piece on the eponymous heroine of Racine's Phedre. Because Valery spoke on many current educational and social problems in France, Occasions will be of considerable interest to students of modern European history as well as to those concerned with French literature and drama. Originally published in 1970. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Grouped together in this book are several smaller volumes and plaquettes in which Valery had published selections of his shorter prose writings: aphorisms, moral reflections, poetic observations, flashes of wit or fancy, even jokes--a variety of remarks and impressions, many of them first recorded in his Notebooks. Originally published in 1970. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Includes some of Valery's finest strokes of imagination, Broken Stories; some of his wittiest observations, Mixtures, Poems in the Rough; and even two of his great poems, Parables and The Angel--all written in the form of prose. Originally published in 1970. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

This collection of Valery's occasional pieces--speeches, interviews, articles--shows him very much as the public figure, the first in demand when an "occasion" needed a prominent person. Included are his speech before the French Academy on his reception into that body; his address welcoming Marshal Petain to membership in the French Academy; a witty and appealing commencement address to the young ladies of a private school; memorial addresses honoring Emile Verhaeren and Henri Bremond; an article on the "Future of Literature," and an incisive piece on the eponymous heroine of Racine's Phedre. Because Valery spoke on many current educational and social problems in France, Occasions will be of considerable interest to students of modern European history as well as to those concerned with French literature and drama. Originally published in 1970. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.